⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 | 🌶️🌶️

I loved the premise of this story and the queer Asian representation! It was a sweet love story with lovely side characters.

I think that a lot of the second chance aspects of the story really turned into miscommunication more than anything. The pacing also felt a bit off for me, often losing my attention while listening. It felt like a lot of the moments in the story were forced and I could definitely have done without all the pop culture references 😅

I did really enjoy Gemma’s growth and evolution, the work she put into herself and into her relationships. I appreciate all the mental health representation as well.

Overall, it was a fun story and I enjoyed the audio, but it just fell a little flat for me.

Thank you Hachette Audio for this ALC!

DNF @ 36% I’m so sorry but Celeste’s reason for ghosting Gemma was so ridiculous???? I just can’t get behind them as a couple. I also found it really hard to follow the POV changes - like why was Gemma in first person and Celeste in third person???

I really liked the narrator for Gemma but I struggled with Celeste - maybe because of the third person shift?

Thank you to NetGalley and Hachette Audio for the advanced listener copy in exchange for my honest review.

2.5 ⭐️
I love a second chance romance but this one just didn’t hit. I really had to push through it. I felt like the fmc’s were hard to root for. I felt they only had a physical attraction rather than an emotional attachment with each other.

I enjoyed the asian representation, hearing about the cultural differences and was able to imagine the struggle to be queer with a traditional family.

I think the production and narrators did an awesome job.

Thank you NetGalley and Hachette Audio for the ARC!

A stunning story - my biggest gripe with many sapphic books is the lack of dominant bisexual women and the fact that they often upend their life for a women’s they’ve known a matter of months. Or with most second chance romance they’re married in a year. I love that this is something completely different! it handles the complexity of commitment issues and anxiety so well.

The chosen family and self love is a real seller to this books…it also has an excellent smut to plot ratio!

excellent job well done!

Thank you Lyla Lee, Netgalley, and Hachette Audio | Forever for the opportunity to review this ALC. I think it's especially important to read books written by voices that are not similar to your own - so this was a great read for AAPI month as well as leading up to Pride month. A sapphic romance that drew out all the emotions loaded with 2nd chances, complicated feelings about family and identity, and the challenges of being part of the LGBTQIA+ community and also being of Korean heritage. All that said, this was just simply put, a really good second chance romance. The narration was very well done, I was especially impressed by the narrator who voiced Gemma. This is sure to be a hit when it releases later this month!

For a while I’ve been unsure how I feel about second chance romance trope but this book SOLD me on it. Gemma and Celeste felt so real and their chemistry absolutely oozed off the (metaphorical) page. this book was so cute and the audiobook narrators did an amazing job of bringing the characters to life

I really enjoyed love in focus! It's incredibly sweet, compelling, emotional and Celeste & Gemma have amazing chemistry.
I did not love the last book I read by Lyla Lee but this one totally enamored me from the start.

The writing style is direct and to the point and i loved both povs, the narrators really bring them to life.
Seeing Celeste & Gemma share parts of themselves with each other was delightful to read about.
I really liked how distinct each of them feel and what they bring into the relationship considering the baggage they already carry with each other.
Surprisingly it's pretty low drama and miscommunication which seems unusual with the second chance romance.
The background characters are so lovable. I adored Val & Chiara.

I really recommend checking out Love in Focus if you are interested, and definitely recommend the audiobook as a way to consume the story.

This was sweet! Perhaps not overwhelmingly memorable, but reading about the historical struggles that sapphic, especially Asian, couples have suffered through, will definitely stick with me. Some people might say their circumstances were *too* perfect, running into each other immediately after Gemma gets out of her 7 year long relationship with a man. But I honestly don't mind that. It's fate...and fiction! And I love nothing more than a second chance romance :)

IMHO, I felt like we didn't get enough from Celeste, and what we did get was a bit contradictory. Like, she doesn't ever want to be in a relationship again but then wants to be with Gemma forever, but then won't be with her because she already told Gemma that she wanted to keep it casual. I get it, she was figuring out her life and needed more time but sometimes I felt like she was the more passionate one, but then always put the breaks on.

Overall though, I did love the story, the spice, the setting, and side characters. I honestly WOULD read it again and recommend it!

I'm glad I got the ARC in addition to the ALC because I'M SORRY but I did not like the audio. The voice for Gemma was good. But the voice for Celeste was borderline cringey.

Thank you Hatchett Audio for the ALC!

A fun second chance Sapphic romance! The audiobook is *chef's kiss* There is some amazing representation of different kinds of couples spanning several generations <3 <3 The narrators did an fantastic job and truly embodied Celeste and Gemma.

Online Review will be posted to my instagram on release week.

Rating: 2 stars – cute premise but lacked depth

Love in Focus had potential, but I couldn’t connect with the characters or buy into the ghosting storyline. Celeste’s lack of communication just didn’t make sense. The POV shift (third-person for Celeste, first-person for Gemma) felt odd, and character development was minimal. I wish there were flashbacks to their past to better build their love story.

The audiobook was easy to listen to. Gemma’s narration was great, but Celeste’s was a bit dry. Some parts felt rushed (like the friends-with-benefits turn), while others dragged. Overall, a light, cute read that just didn’t hit the emotional depth it could’ve.

Thanks to Hachette Audio and NetGalley for the ARC.

A big thank you to both @HachetteAudio, NetGalley, and the author for allowing me to review this wonderful story.

This book was a really cute sapphic second chance romance between college roommates who eventually find each other again. I really liked how the representation was woven into the story. It was a major part of the characters and their character development while leaving them room to grow without using their background and history as a reason to not develop. I also really loved getting to see the project they worked on together – getting to actually hear about the interviews and not just have them briefly mentioned as part of the story made the setting feel more real having other characters seemingly living their own lives just like real life.

The narration in the story was also phenomenal. I haven’t ever really listened to an audiobook narrated by Catherine Ho, but I am a big fan of Natalie Naudus and follow her on some socials. Both of these ladies did a wonderful job at the narration in this story. It was very smooth and each of their narration styles were unique enough that I could easily tell apart the narration characters but also were similar enough that there wasn’t any disconnect when narrators switched between chapters. They both did really well at giving voices to the secondary character as well to add a little more depth to the story.

One small thing I struggled with was the middle of the story. It felt like in the middle there was a bit of a dip because there were a lot of moments where the characters were not with each other or hadn’t seen each other in a while. I know this is typical to normal life, but it did make the story a bit slow in the middle for me personally. The spicy rating was a level 5 for those familiar with my rating system.

Overall, I would give this book a 4 out of 5 stars. A good book and rather interesting to read and if you like sapphic stories I would recommend it.

This book was so cute I could not stop smiling!! I was very excited to be able to read this book before it was published, and it did not disappoint.

Gemma, a romance advice columnist that can't seem to follow her own guidance, and Celeste, a photographer that's given up on relationships, are assigned to work together on a new project called Modern Love in Focus. The only problem? They're college exes that haven't spoken in years.

The characters in this book were so cute, especially Gemma's friends who were so supportive and amazing. There was also a great range of diversity with many reflections about Korean culture which was fun.

I don't usually listen to audiobooks, but I enjoyed listening to this. The narration was great, with both Natalie Naudus and Catherine Ho voicing the characters perfectly. It was easy to tell the difference between the various side characters and they all felt like different people.

Overall I really enjoyed this book as a lighthearted quick read.

This was a sweet second chance love story with lots of reality making the story way more believable than some flighty romance reads. Loved the representation of queer and bi folk with Asian American and Hispanic women. I did have to look up if people really call San Francisco "SF" b/c that was weird to hear, I also found it kind of unrealistic to constantly refer to "my ex" in the internal narrations happening most of the time. Otherwise, the audio was good with narration by a range of voices and tones.

2.5☆

This was super cute and lighthearted. The characters are sweet and funny, and I appreciate the queer Asian rep.

However, the stakes were so incredibly low that I got bored and was neither invested in the story nor the characters.

This isn't a bad book by any means. If you just want a cute, little, lighthearted romcom, you would probably enjoy this! I would recommend it. It's just really not the book for me.

Super cute Sapphic Romance, 2nd chance and fast paced. Would like to read more by this author. Believable chemistry between the 2 main characters and just the right amount of spice

I really enjoyed this cozy, sapphic second-chance romance. I loved that the main characters were late 20s, and focused on relationships and friendships during this time of your life - I feel like this isn't something I see often. I loved the side characters - Kiara and Val gave off found family vibes!

The audiobook was great - Natalie Naudus did an INCREDIBLE job as Gemma, really captured the character perfectly. However I wasn't completely convinced by Catherine Ho's Celeste - for whatever reason, it didn't seem to fit the character. This could be down to Celeste's POV being in third person (which wasn't too jarring in itself) or the narration being slower during these sections.

I was lucky enough to receive an ALC from Hachette Audio & Netgalley, so thank you to them!

3.5 stars

I flew through this audiobook! I love the narrator for Gemma and found myself missing her when the chapters changed to Celeste's POV (which I also felt was unnecessary but anyway...).

I also didn't love the casual biphobia by Celeste character when she refers to Gemma breaking up with her and then dating a man as a “lesbian’s worst nightmare” so this definitely soured the rest of the book for me

Thank you Netgalley for the advanced listener copy!

Je suis tombée amoureuse de cette lecture dès les premières phrases. Immédiatement Gemma m'est apparu sympathique, et une héroïne a qui on peut s'identifier. J'ai beaucoup aimé découvrir l'histoire de deux femmes dans leur trentaine toujours célibataire entourée de couple que se soit leurs collègues ou leurs amis. Un petit défaut malgré tout, on voit beaucoup les ami.es de Gemma mais très peux celleux de Céleste qui vit beaucoup de bouleversement. On sait qu'elle a un ami, que c'est son meilleur ami mais on ne le voit jamais outre un petit SMS/appel au milieu du livre :/
Toutes les deux sont réalistes, pleine de contradictions et de secret. Je ne saurait exprimer à quel point écouter cette histoire m'a tenu éveiller et en même temps je ne voulais pas qu'elle s'arrête, je passais un trop bon moment avec elles.
J'ai aussi adoré voir ces adultes qui apprécient toujours sortir le soir, danser en boite, loin des clichés qu'on peut s'imaginer. Je trouve que ça change aussi des romances qui nous montrent soit des jeunes dans leur vingtaine soit des adultes qui ont commencé à avoir une vie de famille (no hate to single parent trope). Et évidemment j'adore voire des jeunes femmes sapphic expérimentées de la queer joy en rencontrant toute sorte de couple queer. Les passages des interviews sont d'une douceur qui m'a fait monté les larmes aux yeux. C'est encore dur de vraiment mettre les mots qui vont sur cette lecture, parce que j'ai tout aimé, je reviendrais vers cette autrice avec plaisir que j'avais déjà adoré dans ses romans YA.

This was a cute read- and my fist from Lyla Lee. Mostly lower angst (surprisingly given the backstory) and with a sweet connection.

Love in Focus is a second chance sapphic romance. Celeste and Gemma had a fling in college...until Celeste up and ghosted her. Now almost a decade later they have reconnected in their late 20's. Gemma is a relationship columnist and her latest assignment pairs her with her ex Gemma- a photographer and the girl she dated in college until she disappeared. Now's the time to work through their past- but Gemma is fresh off an ended engagement, and Celeste is commitment.

Sapphic, big, and Korean main character rep, and I also loved a second chance with characters many years later. Though I felt like I wanted a bit more angst/drama- they kind of just move on from it pretty quickly. And if you are a fan of Lyla Lee's YA work (which I've not read but excited to check out)- this one definitely has some spice!

Overall, I liked this, though there were some narrative choices that kept me from connecting with both characters. I really liked Gemma- she was the most relatable and nuanced of our leads. She was also the character voice in first person and where we spend the bulk of our time, which definitely impacted my ability to connect with her. I found her charming and nuanced and a really beautiful character. Celeste on the other hand I never quite warmed up to- and the choice to limit her POVs and to have her in the 3rd person really kept her at a distance, and when we see her as the "wrong doer" that felt like a curious choice to me because I never felt like I quite "got" her. I also didn't love the end of book break and time pivot- just not my favorite narrative trope. But I did really love their romance and found it quite charming.

The audio paralleled my reading experience. I loved the narration for Gemma and found the performance to be quite endearing. And I also loved that we have two narrators to represent each woman. But the third person narration was even more noticeable on the audio performance, and while the narrator was great, she didn't quite capture the vibe I got from Celeste, but again that is perhaps my own limitation in connecting with her. But overall, super well performed.

A fun and bingeable sapphic romance to read this summer!

When Gemma's long-term relationship suddenly ends, she finds herself sleeping on her best friend's couch. Although her love life might be in the rubble currently, she's happy with her work as a relationship advice columnist and having just taken on a super interesting new project, she keeps her mind busy with work. Until she finds out, she will be working on the project with her ex, Celeste, a talented (and incredibly hot) photographer. Will Gemma find the lost spark again with Celeste?

I listened to the audiobook version of Love in Focus. The story is told from two POVs - Gemma, 1st POV and Celeste, in 3rd POV. I didn't think Celeste's POV was needed, and the audio part for it was a bit off. However, the book was generally a fun and easy read, I got through it in one sitting, so it is definitely bingeable and I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a quick and lighthearted sapphic romance.